Although short videos are ＂good＂, teenagers are not ＂fascinated＂

Original Zhao Xiaoguang Shanghai Mental Health Flying Green Ribbon

Although the short video is "good"

Teenagers are not "fascinated"

In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology and intelligent electronic products, short videos have quietly occupied and become a part of the lives of people of different ages. The Research Report on the Development of Network Audiovisual in China (2023) shows that by December 2022, the number of network audiovisual users in China reached 1.04 billion, and the number of short video users reached 1.012 billion. Short video has become the audio-visual product with the highest stickiness for users and the longest usage time per person per day, which consumes a lot of fragmentation time cost for different groups. For adults who have the ability to distinguish right from wrong, browsing short videos moderately is beneficial to relieve the pressure of work and life, but for teenagers who are at the critical stage of forming their outlook on life, values and world outlook, being too addicted may bring irreparable mental and psychological consequences.

In 2022, the Central Network Information Office and the Office of the Leading Group for the Protection of Minors in the State Council launched the special action of "Clearing the Internet Environment for Minors in the Summer of 2022". Many online games were included in the anti-addiction system, and the playing time of minors was limited, but short videos took advantage of it and became the "new favorite" of many children’s after-school entertainment. According to statistics, 6.3% of primary school netizens watch short videos for more than 2 hours on weekdays, and 10% and 13.8% of junior high school and senior high school netizens watch short videos for more than 2 hours on weekdays. Short videos are short and have a high spread rate, and it is very easy to "brainwash" teenagers who have not yet formed three views.

So, what harm will being addicted to short videos bring to teenagers? How can we prevent them from indulging too much?

one

The Harm of Addiction to Short Video to Teenagers

one

Form false cognition

The content of short video platform is mixed, and the positive content can provide a good learning and development platform for teenagers, broaden their knowledge, stimulate their personalized development, and be beneficial to the healthy development of body and mind. However, in order to gain traffic and attention, some video publishers often publish some contents with negative, pseudo-scientific and unhealthy values, which leads to teenagers’ shallow understanding of mainstream culture. However, these "unscrupulous" vulgar contents gradually erode teenagers’ healthy psychology and form a wrong understanding of teenagers who are at the critical stage of forming their outlook on life, values and world outlook.

2

Blind imitation behavior

Under the influence of big data and algorithms, short videos will customize personalized push services for each teenager according to their personal preferences. Usually, the curiosity of young people is relatively strong, and the content with bold innovation and sensory stimulation, such as extreme activities, published by the platform usually contains some dangerous professional actions or moral wrong demonstrations, which can easily induce blind imitation of young people, resulting in potential physical or psychological harm and even criminal behavior.

three

Realistic sense of gap

The content presented by many short videos is often a moment of beauty or an idealized state carefully designed by publishers, and most of them are exaggerated, curious and lack of value connotation. This will create a misconception that teenagers can easily meet their basic needs for leisure, entertainment and aesthetics through short videos. When they find it difficult to achieve in real life, they will have a deep sense of gap.

four

Personality change

Teenagers are addicted to the Internet for a long time, so they are prone to lack of interest in people and things in real life, apathy, reduced communication with relatives and friends, and closed themselves, which affects the formation of healthy outlook on life and values. The flood of information on the Internet and the unrestrained behavior of teenagers on the Internet will easily lead to the decline of self-discipline and serious violent attacks.

five

Frustrated in study

Indulging in short videos for a long time will reap people’s attention, leading to the decline of teenagers’ concentration, and gradually unable to adapt to the study that requires long-term concentration, thus resulting in no intention to study, poor grades, poor academic performance, and even repetition and dropout.

six

Health damage

Long-term addiction to short videos may lead to health problems such as loss of appetite, weight loss, sleep loss, dizziness, depression, difficulty in concentration, etc. In severe cases, life and rest disorders, decreased immunity, physical weakness, and even cardiovascular and cervical diseases may occur, and depression, anxiety or other mental health problems may also occur.

seven

vision disorder

The normal blink frequency is 15-20 times per minute. But when we focus on the screen, the frequency will drop to 1/4 of normal, so the secretion of tears will be reduced, and the eyes will be dry and tired. Long-term close eye use will cause eye muscle fatigue. The standard of "using eyes at close range" is less than 5 meters. At this time, the ciliary muscles in the eyes will contract, making the lens bulge, which is convenient for seeing things clearly. The closer you look, the more severe the muscle contraction. Therefore, seeing things at close range will keep the eye muscles tense all the time, thus making the eyes tired and causing myopia in severe cases.

two

How to prevent teenagers from indulging in short videos

Under the source of imperfect platform supervision mechanism, ineffective youth model and chaotic short video content, how to actively educate and guide young people to browse positive short video content moderately and prevent young people from indulging deserves the attention of the whole society.

01. Strengthen the education and prevention of Internet addiction among teenagers.

Society, schools and families should increase publicity efforts to make teenagers aware of the negative impact of the Internet, so as to effectively reduce and avoid the harm of the Internet to teenagers and make them play a positive role to the maximum extent. Strengthen the mental health education for teenagers, help them understand the causes and harm of internet addiction, help them understand their own needs, find the right way to meet their psychological needs, and give corresponding and targeted guidance, so as to guide teenagers to straighten the position of computers and networks and improve their online mentality.

02. Rational guidance

For teenagers to watch short videos, many parents and schools have two extreme attitudes. One is that teenagers are forbidden to watch short videos, and the other is that teenagers are allowed to watch short videos, which is not the correct way to deal with it. Parents and schools should take correct guiding measures, such as reasonably controlling the length of watching short videos, guiding to watch positive short video content, encouraging teenagers to create positive content, helping them to improve their ability to identify short video content, and understanding the significance and connotation of the birth and development of short video content. Parents, schools and teenagers should work together to create a healthy network use environment.

03. Optimize the family education environment

Families should create a good environment for the healthy growth of teenagers. Parents should pay attention to teaching by example, teaching by example is better than teaching by example, and set an example to minimize the time spent browsing short videos on mobile phones in front of children. Strengthen the companionship and communication with children, and establish a good parent-child relationship.

04. Cultivate teenagers’ diversified interests and hobbies.

Schools and parents should pay attention to cultivating young people’s diversified interests and hobbies, so that there are many more meaningful and interesting things in his life than the Internet, such as reading, traveling, sports, painting and photography, handcrafting, etc. By cultivating young people’s various interests and hobbies, they will naturally not be immersed in the Internet all day.

05. Seek help from professional medical institutions.

For teenagers who have been addicted to short videos for a long time and have internet addiction behavior, school parents should actively pay attention to them, find them in time and intervene as soon as possible, and provide psychological counseling. When necessary, parents can seek help from the adolescent mental health clinic of professional medical institutions to prevent further development through professional intervention.

Short video reconstructs the current pattern of visual culture communication, which has a great impact on people’s thinking and communication methods, and teenagers are the most vulnerable groups and also the groups that need social attention. Short videos have a positive impact on the growth of teenagers, but also bring many adverse effects. How to avoid these negative effects requires the active response of the government, platforms, schools, families and other levels to create a healthy and upward growth environment for young people. Only when teenagers’ body and mind are well developed can they have a promising future.

Brief introduction of the author

Zhao Xiaoguang

Master’s degree, chief public health physician and intermediate psychotherapist of Jiading Mental Health Center, Shanghai. Mainly engaged in community mental illness prevention, public mental health education and community mental illness rehabilitation services.

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Original title: "Although the short video is" good ",teenagers are not" fascinated ""

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